Given hardening Republican opposition to Congressional health care proposals, Democrats now say they see little chance of the minority’s cooperation in approving any overhaul, and are increasingly focused on drawing support for a final plan from within their own ranks.

Top Democrats said Tuesday that their go-it-alone view was being shaped by what they saw as Republicans’ purposely strident tone against health care legislation during this month’s Congressional recess, as well as remarks by leading Republicans that current proposals were flawed beyond repair.

The White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said of Republican lawmakers, “Only a handful seem interested in the type of comprehensive reform that so many people believe is necessary to ensure the principles and the goals that the president has laid out.”

The last time we had a Democratic president, we and he allowed for truly progressive change to be snuffed out in favor of conservative corporate interests. It was good, but it could have been far better.

I hope we don’t give away the farm this time.

In other words, they had a glass jaw.

If the tussle over the public option component of health care reform continues along what seems to be its current trajectory, the Obama administration will have taken a serious punch to the face and the GOP will end up running all over them.

The main problem here is that President Obama seems overly focused on getting some kind of bipartisanship out of Washington, but the problem is he’s going about it using the Tom Daschle method. Many of us will remember the days where Tom Daschle led as minority leader and majority leader as marked by all sorts of ridiculous concessions to the Bush administration and the Republicans – most notably on the Iraq War. In retrospect all that bipartisanship led to was the loss of political power and clout for the Democrats, and more importantly, the near-ruination of the prestige and fiscal supremacy of the United States. That’s all.

In theory, concessions on these things are supposed to lead to votes. Senator X wants this, okay we do it, now we have his vote. Representative Y really wants this to cost this much, okay we do it, now we have her vote. The problem is President Obama and the leadership in the Senate (for now, the House seems to be sticking to their guns) seem to be in a mode of permanent concession that is not going to produce any Republican votes.

The Dems could negotiate health care reform down to a band-aid and a sheet of prayer and the GOP wouldn’t vote for it because the band-aid cost too much. Gotta be “deficit neutral”, you know!

I don’t get this. And while intellectually I sort of understand the various moving parts that have to be juggled around simultaneously, my gut feeling – and I’m sure the same goes for much of the American majority who supported the President and the Congress – is that we have the votes to get things accomplished, so why are even playing this game?

There are 60 votes for cloture in the Senate – at least there should be unless any Democrat is stupid enough to filibuster health care reform for Christ’s sake, and there has got to be at least 51 Dems with the guts to do this thing, or why bother? In the House the margins are even better, with 40 votes of wiggle room for Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer. GET IT DONE.

I’ve often written here about how I think its kind of ridiculous how the religious right invests so much in Republicans expecting things like the outlawing of abortion – their ultimate goal – and instead Republican presidents like Bush refuse to do more than make a phone call to their rallies, let alone enact actual legislation related to their cause.

President Obama and the Democratic Congress risk serious damage with their base over health care, in a way that won’t be papered over like the religious right and abortion. This is not 1992, where a President with less than 50% of the vote won on a moderate platform with very little wiggle room to work with in the congress. Obama won by almost 7%, with more than double the electoral votes of his opponent. His party enjoys considerable majorities in both houses of congress. That is not a mandate to go play pattycake with John Boehner. Its a mandate to get serious stuff done.

Democrats are in power because the electorate trusted them on 3 major items: Economy, National Security, and Health Care. On economy and national security they are on the right path, with a return to some sort of fiscal sanity and regulated markets, combined with a strategic disengagement from Iraq as well as a rededication in Afghanistan to finishing the job that began on 9/11. But while 2/3 will get you into Cooperstown, it won’t help the Dems electorally.

And again, more importantly, it won’t help the country.

Heart Bypass Surgergy: I’ve Seen Too Many

While I haven’t seen the worst of this first-hand, I have seen what our current health care system screws up. I’m lucky, I’m one of those people with a pretty good health benefit from my employer. Other, close, members of my family don’t have that. The costs are too high, they aren’t covered on their jobs, and they have pre-existing conditions. Sure, they are cared for when they need emergency care but I honestly would much rather not have to have people in my family wait until the doctors have to rip arteries out of their chests to get their health care needs adressed. Oh, and the giant bills that ensue.

The Republican party and a few Democrats with their heads shoved up their butts want more people to suffer. They – especially the Republicans – won’t budge and they won’t give an inch. Their ideology and the idea of winning one fight versus a President they seek to kneecap is far more important to them than the members of my family or the millions of others out there. That’s why they insist on mob rule and death panel lies rather than a serious discussion on this.

Their minds were made up on November 4, 2008. There is no sense in engaging with them, let alone conceding anything to them until they decide to bring some honesty to this issue.

The president and congress could make the Washington village types really happy with a milquetoast nothingball package of legislation that doesn’t do a thing and leads to policy and electoral failure. Or they could do the job we put them in place to do.

Rep. Heath Shuler said Thursday night during a telephone town hall meeting that he opposes the House health care reform legislation because it would increase the deficit, doesn’t reduce the overall cost of health care and doesn’t do enough to promote people living healthier lives.

…

“I do not support HR3200 at the present time,” Shuler said during brief opening remarks, referring to the House bill that has passed three committees and will be eligible for consideration by the full House when Congress returns after Labor Day. “I do realize that we’ve got to reform parts of this system,” he said later.

We need someone else for NC-11 who won’t keep stabbing the Democratic party, and most importantly, North Carolina and America, in the back.

These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views — but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades.

Health care is complex. It touches every American life. It drives our economy. People must be allowed to learn the facts.

The first fact is that health insurance reform will mean more patient choice. It will allow every American who likes his or her current plan to keep it. And it will free doctors and patients to make the health decisions that make the most sense, not the most profits for insurance companies.

Reform will mean stability and peace of mind for the middle class. Never again will medical bills drive Americans into bankruptcy; never again will Americans be in danger of losing coverage if they lose their jobs or if they become sick; never again will insurance companies be allowed to deny patients coverage because of pre-existing conditions.

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

This proposal controls the skyrocketing cost of health care by rooting out waste and fraud and promoting quality and accountability. Its savings of more than $500 billion over 10 years will strengthen Medicare and contribute to our goal of reforming health care in a fiscally responsible way. It will change the incentives in our health care system so that Americans can receive the best care, not the most expensive care. And it will offer families and businesses more choices and more affordable health care.

This proposal will also prevent insurance companies from denying people coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition. It will ensure that workers can still have health insurance if they lose their job, change their job or start a new business. And it includes a health insurance exchange that will allow families and small businesses to compare prices and quality so they can choose the health care plan that best suits their needs. Among the choices that would be available in the exchange would be a public health insurance option that would make health care affordable by increasing competition, providing more choices, and keeping the insurance companies honest.

The House proposal will begin the process of fixing what’s broken about our health care system, reducing costs for all, building on what works, and covering an estimated 97% of all Americans. And by emphasizing prevention and wellness, it will also help improve the quality of health care for every American.

The bill is here: America’s Affordable Health Choices Act

The America’s Affordable Health Choices Act is consistent with President Obama’s overall goals of building on what works within the current health care system by strengthening employer-provided care, while fixing what is broken. The bill will ensure that 97 percent of Americans will be covered by a health care plan that is both affordable and offers quality, standard benefits by 2019.

Yay, Politico named you to a perfectly arbitrary list! Look, I don’t have any serious problems with Rep. Edwards and she has so far demonstrated the kind of values I want to see in my Rep. that we weren’t seeing in Al Wynn. But trumpeting insidery lists from Politico is the path to faildom. Politico, in the larger sense of people in congress working for us, does not matter one bit. In fact, its an impediment to getting things done in congress thanks to the noise it shoots out.

Members of congress shouldn’t be trumpeting it when Politico lauds them. In fact, the less Politico is involved in congress, the better for democracy.

How is this one any different?

Americans overwhelmingly support substantial changes to the health care system and are strongly behind one of the most contentious proposals Congress is considering, a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

The poll found that most Americans would be willing to pay higher taxes so everyone could have health insurance and that they said the government could do a better job of holding down health-care costs than the private sector.

There is no impediment to health care reform other than the courage of Democratic members of congress. They have the votes and a President ready and waiting to sign the bill. Most importantly they have a public out there that wants this reform. The only wind in their faces is wind from insurance companies flapping around their millions of dollars in the breeze.

There are no reasons, no excuses for making this happen.

The Democratic party just won a historic election, taking control of the White House and increasing its margins in the House and Senate – so of course its time for the Dems to do what they do when they get in power: Tear down the leader of the party and leave him open to Republican attack.

Today’s edition of the stupidest game in politics involves some congressional bellyaching about the plan to save the economy, poorly written opposition to a possible appointee, and of course anonymously sourced news stories about supposed discord between the President-elect and the outgoing chairman that’s treated as gospel.

And Obama’s not even president yet! This bodes well as usual. While the Republican party runs around squawking about Twitter in search of a clue, the Dems are already on schedule to kneecap their president.

If Obama was a less capable person I would be even more concerned. Jesus.

‘These incendiary and personal attacks have no place in our politics, and will do nothing to help the good people of Tennessee,’ Obama said. ‘It’s time to turn the page on a politics driven by negativity and division so that we can come together to lift up our communities and our country.’

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told GOP congressional hopefuls on Thursday that they should not be afraid to criticize both political parties – including Republican members of the House.

During a conference call, the National Republican Congressional Committee chairman instructed candidates, campaign managers and press secretaries that given the anti-incumbent environment, it could be beneficial for House GOP candidates to distance themselves from politicians they may be serving with next year.

If Democrats are running versus Republicans, and Republicans are too…

You know what this means, right? Good For John McCain!

I, of course, encourage Boehner to stay as Minority Leader for as long as he wants.

They can vote acknowledging the existence of Christmas, but they can’t do shit otherwise. Awesome.

I happen to not agree with Rep. Kucinich on hardly anything besides getting out of Iraq, but I certainly have more respect for him than I do for a serial idiot like Rep. John Boehner. He has earned the right to have his privileged resolution, no matter how much it goes down in flames (as it will) or how impractical it is (very) given the same rights Pelosi gives to the Republican minority time and time again.

This is the price the party leadership pays for being in the majority and still acting like the minority and allowing Bush & Co. to continue to screw up the country. This is why your approval ratings are in the toilet. We didn’t elect a Democratic majority to keep giving up Republican victories.

Three senior House Democrats proposed an income tax surcharge Tuesday to finance the approximately $150 billion annual cost of operations in Iraq, saying it is unfair to pass the cost of the war on to future generations.

The plan, unveiled by Reps. David Obey, D-Wis., John Murtha, D-Pa., and Jim McGovern, D-Mass., would require low- and middle-income taxpayers to add 2 percent to their tax bill. Wealthier people would add a 12 to 15 percent surcharge, Obey said.

The plan’s sponsors acknowledged the tax measure is unlikely to pass, and admitted they lacked support from top Democrats, a fact immediately reinforced by the No. 2 Democrat in the House.

We had a different mindset in 1943, during the World War for our survival.
]]> http://www.oliverwillis.com/2007/10/02/taxes-and-war/feed/ 5